This might be the most chilling text message I have ever heard of: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.” I know many observers have long criticized those who write about privacy of being outfitted with tinfoil hats. Admittedly, we sometimes stretch to conjure up [Keep reading]
I’m getting this question a lot, and I know most people are in a big hurry, so I’ll give you a short answer and a long answer. Short answer: Take Target’s offer. It’s a valuable service and it’s free, particularly given the ever-expanding web of victims in this hacker attack. [Keep reading]
The report that explains how Target’s credit card systems were hacked contains this chilling sentence: “At the time of discovery, the malware had zero percent detection rate, which means fully updated antivirus engines on fully patched computers could not ID the malware.” It was posted online by The Wall Street [Keep reading]
Living room TVs, multi-media centers, and at least one refrigerator were used in a recent spam attack, e-mail security firm Proofpoint announced this week. Sure, this is a great opportunity to make jokes about spam not needing refrigeration. Chuckle for a moment, and then consider this: IDC predicts that more than [Keep reading]
While marketers with ambitious mobile phone ideas are gathered in New York this week, they are discussing (with glee) how addicted consumers are to their cell phones. For example: 79 percent of U.S. adults aged 18-44 say they check their smartphone within 15 minutes of waking up. 63 percent of [Keep reading]
Target has begun to e-mail victims of its data leak, and has launched a website that will allow consumers to sign up for free credit monitoring. Consumers can visit CreditMonitoring.Target.com right now and begin the process of signing up for credit monitoring. The firm is taking the added step of [Keep reading]
Credit card hackers who broke into Neiman Marcus payment systems were able to steal data from the firm between Sept. 1 and Dec. 17, a person familiar with the investigation told BobSullivan.net on Monday. That’s considerably longer than the 18-day window that hackers were said — at least initially — [Keep reading]
Today, Target announced that the victim total from its hacking incident has jumped dramatically. There were 40 million victims whose credit card numbers were compromised. Now, we learn that there’s another list of 70 million victims — hackers made away with other personal information about them, including e-mail and mailing [Keep reading]
With all the screaming about the NSA hacking into our lives, Americans have kind of missed the point. We’ve voluntarily given our lives to private companies for years. Government agents don’t have to hack us. They can simply ask any of these companies for everything they have. The Supreme Court [Keep reading]
The IRS tries very hard to send out tax refunds quickly, so it sometimes sends them to the wrong person. Criminals have figured this out, and increasingly try to jump between you and your tax refund. They do this by filing a tax return before you do. Your solution: File [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan